The Youngest Son of Sunyang

Perhaps it was due to the chilly atmosphere in the house caused by Grandfather's outburst during breakfast, but everyone seemed to be trying to match Grandfather's mood.

Father and Mother, the key players in this situation, used the excuse of checking the box office results to leave as soon as the meal was over. Eldest Brother claimed he had some urgent work to attend to, and he left before anyone else.

To thwart Grandfather's plan, I needed to know all the details of that plan.

A report I glimpsed briefly on the desk in his study kept catching my eye. That report seemed to outline a plan that would swallow Ajin Motors for sure.

Looking at the table of contents, I felt a bit baffled, and as I turned the pages, I understood why.

I had completely misinterpreted this report.

It wasn't a strategy report for Ajin Motors' acquisition by Sunyang; it was a report on the necessity of consolidating the automobile industry, government policies related to it, and support measures. In other words, it documented the legitimacy and rationale for Sunyang's absorption of Ajin Motors. If the government announced this report as policy, Ajin Motors would be incorporated into the Sunyang Group.

If Daehyun Motors absorbed Ajin, there would be concerns about monopolizing the automobile market, and since Wooseong Motors has a significant stake from GM, there would be impressions of handing over to foreign car companies.

Ultimately, the story was that Sunyang Motors was the most suitable acquirer.

Once again, I was amazed by the power of conglomerates, Sunyang in particular.

Conglomerates create the policies they desire, present them to the government, and then the government puts those policies into action. Finally, it all ends with lawmakers in the legislature doing their dutiful role.

It's possible to swallow an entire healthy company like this without even peeling off the skin.

This report was evidence of the covert collusion between Sunyang Group and the government.

If this were to leak, it would become a political scandal involving improper connections between business and politics.

Damn it.

The impact is too significant. I don't care about the current administration's consequences, but Sunyang's consequences must not happen.

Is there any way to not send Grandfather to the prosecutors' office in a wheelchair?

I need to find something that can turn the situation around right now.

I picked up the weekly information report placed on one side of the desk.

Occasionally, when Grandfather wasn't around in the study, I would sneak a peek.

So far, there hadn't been any information that was particularly useful to me. I only briefly looked at it for entertainment purposes, like investigating celebrity scandals.

This report, however, was similar in nature to stock market rumors or X-files, with nothing of practical value to me.

This report encompasses all information related to politics, economy, society, and the entertainment industry. However, the quantity, depth, and reliability of information are beyond comparison with rumors and X-files.

The information provided by various sources from different fields was meticulously verified by the Information Team of the Sunyang Group.

I found nothing useful and passed the file.

However, there was no source significant enough to make Grandfather let go of Ajin Motors.

When I closed the information report file, I sighed deeply.

We need to stop the government from making the announcement about restructuring the automotive industry. It feels daunting at this point.

Then, a completely different idea came to my mind. No, it's more accurate to say I considered the situation from a different perspective.

Instead of trying to stop Grandfather, why not stop the government? What if we can make the government completely disregard the automotive industry?

There was one piece of information in the information report I saw earlier that was quite suitable for this purpose.

Other conglomerates showed no interest in the money-making opportunity and let the information slip through.

That is...

[Hanbo Group - Change in Land Use for Suseo District Development]

This could be very useful.

The media loves and thrives on any information related to the government, no matter how big or small.

The media's evaluation only gets better as they dig deeper into the government's actions.

This, too, is directly linked to money.

The more the public likes the media, the more valuable even a single word becomes.

If the government, which has already suffered a critical blow to its morality, steps forward and announces the restructuring of the automotive industry, it will be another scandal. They will never dare to mention automotive restructuring.

I quickly made a copy of the information related to the Suseo District development using the fax machine.

"It's getting too big... I hope this works."

Shortly after the Lunar New Year, I organized the information files and sent them by mail to all the media outlets in South Korea. For a few days, there was no response, and I began to suspect that Hanbo Group might have caught on to my tip-off. However, it seemed that they needed some time to confirm my information.

A few days later, The Segye Ilbo opened the floodgates, and all other media outlets followed suit, focusing on uncovering the truth behind the Suseo special favoritism scandal. Not a single line about Ajin Motors was mentioned.

Newspapers and broadcasts have been continuously reporting on the ongoing protests demanding an investigation into the Suseo favoritism scandal, and it's almost the end of March.

Even though it's nearly the end of March, the protests have not stopped for almost a month.

In 1988, when the government's plan to build apartments on the Suseo area, which was nothing but natural greenery, was revealed, Hanbo Group Chairman Jung Tae-soo acquired all the land.

Originally, Seoul City's plan was to build apartments and offer them to multiple-homeowners, but Chairman Jung Tae-soo's all-around lobbying efforts turned the tide, and the city decided to supply land after overturning its policy within five months.

Seoul City claimed that it changed its policy due to pressure from Jang Byung-jo, the presidential secretary for culture and sports, but that wasn't the whole story.

It turned out that National Assembly members from both the ruling and opposition parties received kickbacks from Hanbo Group and pressured Seoul City to change its policy.

The Blue House secretary was identified, but it's clear that he's just a scapegoat.

The anger of the protesters demanding media coverage and the truth was directed at the Blue House, and it was becoming the biggest scandal in the history of the Sixth Republic.